Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 8 teams for 2019 Maui Invitational

By Tristan Freeman

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: The Gonzaga Bulldogs pose for a photo with the 2018 Maui Invitational championship trophy after beating the Duke Blue Devils 89-87 at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: The Gonzaga Bulldogs pose for a photo with the 2018 Maui Invitational championship trophy after beating the Duke Blue Devils 89-87 at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 8
Next
RENO, NV – NOVEMBER 06: TJ Haws #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars has a talk with a referee during the game between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Brigham Young Cougars at Lawlor Events Center on November 6, 2018 in Reno, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images)
RENO, NV – NOVEMBER 06: TJ Haws #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars has a talk with a referee during the game between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Brigham Young Cougars at Lawlor Events Center on November 6, 2018 in Reno, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Devich/Getty Images) /

6. BYU Cougars

Another team with a coaching change, BYU hired Utah Valley Head Coach Mark Pope after all-time wins leader Dave Rose retired. He made a big impact, bringing in WAC Player of the Year Jake Toolson back to the Cougars as a grad transfer. But the biggest offseason victory came with the return of leading scorer and rebounder Yoeli Childs, who had originally left for the NBA Draft.

Pope and the coaching staff was able to convince him and his 21 ppg and 10 rpg averages to come back for his senior year, taking a team hoping to get back to the NIT to now making a serious push to go to the 2020 NCAA Tournament. Childs, Toolson and TJ Haws (17.8 ppg and 5.1 apg) forms a great trio of scorers that the Cougars can work off of.

The question will be whether the role players for BYU steps up and creates viable depth. Rising sophomores Gavin Baxter and Connor Harding have real potential, and Gonzaga transfer Jessie Wade is a quality shooter that’ll help the teams’ woes from three-point range. The hope is that Zac Seljaas can regain his freshman shooting form to help also.

But the biggest key may be what Nick Emery does in his senior season. He averaged over 15 ppg as a freshman but has seen his numbers dip since, including just 6.1 ppg last season. The 6’2 guard will have a full offseason to get back to his own form to at least produce at a high level again.

BYU should be a good team offensively but there are still some big concerns. The first issue is a lack of size, with just Baxter and Childs as real frontcourt options. Bigger teams won’t have a problem out-rebounding them. But the huge concern is on defense, where BYU has really struggled against bigger and athletic programs. That’s who they’ll face with UCLA, although the Cougars might have more talent. For resume purposes, this is a must-win quarterfinal matchup for them.

Home/NCAA Basketball News